Coco Avant Chanel has been creating no shortage of buzz. Alhough it was released on April 22nd oversees and can already be seen on a number of airplane flights, such as those between Paris and New York, it has yet to appear on U.S. screens. Starring Audrey Tautou as Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, it will hit limited U.S. release July 31st, but Vogue’s online website was able to get the scoop on some of the film’s fashions.

The costumes were created by Catherine Leterrier who told the online site that the relationship with the House of Chanel was excellent – “I was completely free to design exactly what I wanted for our film, which takes place before Chanel created her ‘maison de couture’. She started as a milliner. She became successful creating hats.”

Leterrier added that the research process was the same as for any other period film, adding that she and her team did research from “real garments – in museums, flea markets, vintage shops or private collections – and research from painting and photos. For the show at the end we used authentic outfits from the Chanel Conservatory, and Audrey Tautou wore a Chanel suit inspired by ‘Mademoiselle’ in the Sixties.”

Ironically, the news of the good relationship between those in the film’s costume department and the house of Chanel comes just as news leaked of a spat between Tautou and Lagerfeld. Supposedly, the Kaiser was miffed that the starlet does not solely wear Chanel despite starring in the latest No.5 commercial. When asked if she wears a lot of Chanel, Tautou said, “Sometimes. This morning, I wore the rain boots.”

Lagerfeld responded, “I didn’t even know we made rain boots. After that, I don’t have to be nice,” adding that if it were up to him Tautou would be replaced in the ads by Penelope Cruz – ouch!

In other fashion news, there’s no question that the September issue of the major of fashion books are the year’s most critical. Usually brimming with ads and weighing a ton, this upcoming September will see significantly slimmer issues despite extended close dates, aggressive discounts on page rates, and added value.

In fact, ads have dropped by as much 40 percent for some titles. Vogue will reportedly close with about 1/3 less ad pages than it did last year. One publisher revealed that clients who may have last year placed four pages of ads are now cutting back to two, and they are more like to spread their pages across the year.

While none of the fashion industry’s biggest titles, such as Vogue, Lucky, Allure, Glamour and GQ among them, have been immune to this downward spiral, the September books will still be the largest of the fall issue (many brands have cut August ads to focus on September).